1. Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to an audio device and, more specifically, to an apparatus and method of forming a sealed audio speaker assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
An important goal in audio speaker, or simply “speaker,” design has been sound quality. With the advent of mobile media players, such as smart phones, iPods®, and other devices, there has been an effort to develop small audio speakers, and in particular wireless speakers that receive a stream of digital information that is translated into sound via one or more speakers.
Typically, audio speakers include an enclosure and at least one sound transducer, or active driver speaker, having a diaphragm that produces sound waves by converting an electrical signal into mechanical motion of the driver diaphragm. Sound transducers, such as active driver speakers, typically generate sound waves by physically moving air at various frequencies. That is, an active driver speaker pushes and pulls a diaphragm in order to create periodic increases and decreases in air pressure, thus creating sound.
To improve sound quality in an audio speaker it is sometimes desirable to use a passive device called a “passive radiator,” or “passive diaphragm.” Like active driver speakers, passive radiators typically include a sound radiating surface, or diaphragm, attached via a suspension mechanism to a support structure and/or wall of the speaker enclosure. The radiator surface and suspension mechanism are typically tuned by their mass, flexibility/compliance, and surface area to move in response to compression and rarefaction of air inside the enclosure, which results from the movement of the active driver speaker(s). Movement of the radiator surface causes movement of air outside the enclosure, which causes sound to be generated at the movement frequency. Therefore, to create an audio speaker that has good sound quality it is desirable to form a speaker enclosure that is sealed to allow the active and passive components in the audio speaker to perform in a desired manner. Forming a sealed speaker will also have an improved sound generation efficiency over an unsealed or partially sealed speaker design. In other words, the better the speaker is sealed, the less energy that will be expended by the active components in the speaker to achieve the same acoustic pressure during use. Therefore, a sealed speaker design will improve a battery powered speaker's battery life and allow more compact speaker designs to be formed. Also, forming a sealed speaker design that is water tight or water proof, will improve the lifetime of these types of consumer products over conventional designs, which is a competitive advantage.
However, audio speaker designs with a sealed enclosure are often hard to reliably manufacture and can lead to a large amount of scrap and/or manufacturing cost when parts that are sealed against the enclosure need to be removed and/or reworked during the manufacturing process. Conventional designs have typically used many fasteners, such as screws, and seals (e.g., gaskets) to retain and form a seal between the active and passive components and the speaker enclosure. While the piece part cost for an assembly that contains many fasteners is undesirably high, the use of the many fasteners to retain the active and passive components also creates other problems. For example, it has been found that the use of fasteners can lead to sealing problems due to the differing torque that can be applied to the fasteners during the manufacturing of the audio speaker. Also, due to the relaxation of the material in the component and enclosure parts around the screw threads, the fasteners can become loose, resulting in lower seal compression force over time. This often leads to re-tightening and/or resetting of the various audio speaker components and scrap. Additionally, this unwanted material creep effect may cause leaking that is not detectable at the time of manufacture, so an audio speaker that passed the leak test at the end of the assembly line can become defective during storage and shipping. All of these issues generally lead to a higher than desired manufacturing cost, reduced speaker efficiency, shorter useable lifetime and a large number of scrapped components.
Therefore, there is need for an enclosed and sealed audio speaker design that provides a high-quality sound output and is easily manufactured and reworked during the manufacturing process. The devices, systems, and methods disclosed herein are designed to overcome these deficiencies.